USAID Announces First BetterTogether / JuntosEsMejor Challenge Awards in Venezuela and Colombia

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced $575,000 for the first set of BetterTogether Challenge / JuntosEsMejor innovation awards in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Colombia.

Premise Data, a U.S.-based company, will use a digital platform to crowdsource and analyze data directly from Venezuelans to improve the delivery of basic social services, such as health care to diagnose and treat COVID-19. Premise will equip local non-governmental organizations to use the real-time data to evaluate the coverage of services, identify gaps, and plan and monitor their activities in at least six of Venezuela’s 23 States.

Voices of Venezuela will deliver Venezuelan- and Colombian-led media programs to humanize and empower Venezuelan migrants with clear information about how to access basic services in Colombia, such as visas, work and residency permits, bank accounts, health care, and employment opportunities.

In Venezuela, a local service organization will apply a community-ownership model to install, operate, and maintain water-purification units that can distribute clean water in a fair and transparent manner. In addition, a Venezuelan engineering company will test a prototype for a low-cost, solar-powered water-purification system for rural and underserved communities.

These are the first awards by the BetterTogether / JuntosEsMejor Challenge, a partnership between USAID and the Inter-American Development Bank. BetterTogether / JuntosEsMejor is a global initiative to crowdsource, fund, and scale up innovative solutions to support Venezuelans and communities that are hosting them generously across Latin America and the Caribbean.